Swansea 0-0 Middlesbrough: Five Things We Learnt

Siggy gave Valdes his biggest test – mirror.co.uk

An afternoon of poor shooting saw Swansea City draw 0-0 with Middlesbrough, a result likely to be welcomed less by those two teams and more by their relegation rivals. What have we learnt from the game?

Swansea’s positive build-up play

Swansea dominated possession in the first half and looked the more threatening side. Luciano Narsingh caused problems for Fabio Da Silva down the right and on the other flank, Martin Olsson and Jordan Ayew had their moments. The former cut onto his right foot but fired over on six minutes, before Ayew saw his drive saved by Valdes following a teasing run. Jack Cork had been a steady presence in midfield and his long-range effort went off the post and into the net – only it was the back-post and side-netting.

Same old problems for Middlesbrough

Gaston Ramirez’s ankle injury forced Steve Agnew into an early switch, putting on Rudy Gestede to go two up top. This change of shape though did not mean more attacking intent from the visitors, who sat as deep as they had done all season.

Frustrating Traore

It said much about Middlesbrough’s play that their most prominent attacking performer was somebody with little tactical intelligence. Adama Traore often ran into traffic, though one of mazy runs in from the right led to blocked shots from Stewart Downing and Alvaro Negredo. He dragged his shot just wide of the far post in a bright start to the second half from Boro, who capitalized on some sloppy Swansea passing.

Swansea’s pressure

Victor Valdes had not been given much to do in the first hour, but he was alert on 63 minutes. The Spaniard tipped wide Sigurdsson’s excellent long-range pile driver, which kick-started a late period of pressure from the hosts. The Icelander also saw a free-kick deflected off-target, before goalscoring centre-back Alfie Mawson headed Narsingh’s delivery wide.

Late drama

It said much about the work of Boro centre-backs Bernardo Espinosa and Ben Gibson however, that despite this pressure, Swansea’s first clear cut chance did not come until injury-time. Ayew had not looked at home as the lone striker and missed a one-on-one chance late on, after a rare lapse in concentration from Boro. For them, Gestede was more accustomed to playing in the number nine role, but in the dying stage he missed the kind of chance he has built his career on scoring. The Benin striker header Negredo’s cross wide at the back-post with the goal gaping.

It had been a game of few chances and when the clear-cut ones did come right at the death, neither side had the ruthlessness to take them.